Oshawa [key], city (1991 pop. 129,344), SE Ont., Canada, a port on Lake Ontario; since 1974 it has been part of the regional municipality of Durham (1991 pop. 409,070). Oshawa is the home site of General Motors of Canada, and the production of automobiles, begun in 1907, was long the leading industry, but the significance of it and other manufacturing has greatly decreased since the 1980s, and General Motors stopped producing vehicles in 2019. Education and health and related sciences are now the most important economic sectors. Products include railroad and mining equipment, metals, vehicle parts, and rubber products; there also is food processing. The town is on the site of a French trading post. There are automobile, art, and history museums.
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